Every self-respecting shoe is designed and manufactured precisely to guarantee the best performance in the specific effort they are called upon to perform. In order to guarantee maximum performance, companies conceive, study and design each component specifically.
And this is precisely the case with JV International, a company with many years of experience in the world of footwear, which not only conceives, designs and produces soles and their components, but also deals with the conception and development of technologies, compounds and materials. Among the many technologies they produce is Formula, and we interviewed Head of Product Development Giustiano Peruzzo to find out all the peculiarities of Formula.
Formula, Giustiano explains, is a family of compounds inspired by Michelin’s presence in the world of racing. The name Formula, in fact, has a dual origin, firstly it refers to the Formula 1 world and secondly, in Italian, Formula is the definition of compound for the rubber compound.
It is fundamental, however, that with the compound, there should be a design and tread that is specifically conceived for the activity for which it is used.
We posed a few questions to Giustiano:
What is the fascinating process behind the development of a technology such as Formula? Where do you get your inspiration when creating these technologies?
This technology was born out of a need related to the mountain world specifically for climbing, one of the most complex disciplines to satisfy because the product, the shoe, is subjected to very particular stress. Consequently, this compound was engineered, which has anomalous characteristics compared to the standard rubber used in the world of sport because it has to behave in a completely different way.
Compared to the normal characteristic of rubber, which is an elastomer and therefore is a material that gives an elastic response, in this specific case has been studied a treatment that allows the rubber to react in a different way, we say that it is a slow-rebound compound, which makes it possible for the shoe to adapt in a peculiar way to the irregularities of the terrain and surfaces to ensure a range of performance specific to this shoe.
We started with climbing, yes, but it actually takes its inspiration from the world of racing, of competitions. We took Michelin’s experience in the world of racing, such as rallying, moto GP and Formula and converted it for the world of footwear. Starting from the stresses that tyres have to undergo, we transposed it to the stresses that a sportsman has to undergo (with the right proportions), and through the necessary engineering the compound is adapted for its use in the sporting environment or what are the areas where the formula family can be applied.
For which types of footwear is the family of compound Formula suitable and what are the main benefits of this technology?
The Formula family of compounds is suitable for all activities that require a special grip compared to standard rubber. Rubber in itself is a material that offers a certain type of grip, when compared to other alternatives and other materials, such as thermoplastics or foams.
Among the different activities in which this technology can be used we certainly have the mountain world in all its declinations, and this certainly means climbing, approach, trekking, hiking but also trail running we also know can work very well. And it can be declined to niche products in the cycling world because we know that Formula is an interesting solution for mountain biking, enduro and downhill footwear.
Then going to the other extreme, if we enter the world of water and sea, the Formula family is used for fishing, where a certain kind of performance is required, and for sailing.
So what are the main benefits of this technology?
- Anti-slip
- Grip
- Slow-rebound, which is used to define the compound’s adaptability to surfaces, the fact that it doesn’t bounce back immediately and allows you to stick to the ground for longer.
- Flexibility
- Self-cleaning design
Which is one of the most interesting projects with Formula technology?
When we were asked to design a climbing compound, the first thing we looked for was information about the climate, the terrain in which the shoe would be used. The type of rock and the geographical area guided us in deciding the characteristics of the compound. We designed the compound to work in an extreme condition, climbing, for a specific geographical area. As it happens, the benefits enjoyed by climbers were then used for the Orvis project, one of the most interesting projects we worked on.
The request from this company was to collaborate on a high-performance product for fly fishing where anglers are submerged in water up to below the sternum and have these rubber dungarees that allow them to soak for a long time and where the bottom is particularly slippery and slimy there is our Formula technology.
We scored the goal when in combination with the compound we applied a specific design. The Pro WADING BOOT thus benefits from a module that characterises the tread, which is then spread with a density and cap spacing to ensure that all requirements are met.
Formula is just one of the many technologies conceived and designed by JV International, we will soon discover more!
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